Looking Back

Published 8:05 pm, Friday, November 17, 2017

On this date in ...

1917: Word came to the Gifford family of Hudson via long distance telephone call from the Canadian war department in Ottawa that 20-year-old Malcolm Gifford Jr. was killed in battle at the French front on Nov. 8 as a part of the Canadian army. The young man was well known in Albany and Troy for his frequent visits there, but he had gained notoriety three years before while still a teenager for his suspected connection to the murder of Albany chauffeur Frank Clute, who was found dead next to his stalled auto on Watervliet Road near the Latham Corners. While not believed to be the murderer, police considered him an accessory and he was charged, but two separate trials resulted in acquittals.

1967: Albany City Planning Director Richard Patrick defended the city's plans to "permissively" develop the Pine Bush section under its new zoning ordinance after an area architects group called for development of the area as "a planned unit" to best realize its potential. The 160-member Eastern New York chapter of the New York Institute of Architects presented a five-page critique at a mayor's committee zoning hearing. It would next go to the Common Council for review and eventual adoption.

1992: U.S. Rep. Gerald B. Solomon didn't flinch from defending his role in the search of President-elect Bill Clinton's passport records, despite an investigator's criticism of the whole affair. The Queensbury Republican was attending a North Atlantic Treaty Organization conference in Brussels. The embarrassing controversy had swept through the State Department, resulting in the firing of one official and an exchange of blame over who ordered the search.

Want to read more about the Capital Region's past? Have any memories or thoughts about how our history relates to today's events? See http://blog.timesunion.com/history/.